Thursday, 17 March 2011

A Quick Post on Potatoes

There has been a change of allegiance in our home. We once swore by the King Edward, but his throne has been usurped by the beautiful and buttery Marabel potato.

What you can't see is that the last line of the small print says: "No need to add butter or cream - just mash!"

When I did my last online shop, I actually googled a bunch of potato varieties - don't mock me - you'd do it too, out of sheer curiosity. This is what Albert Bartlett Products (a family business since 1948 and the UK's leading provider of fresh potatoes) says about them:

"It offers an exceptional, fine sweet flavour with a creamy texture so you don’t have to add butter. This makes the Marabel a key staple ingredient in any healthy diet."

Well, obviously we had to try them - how could we not? Imagine mashed potatoes without adding butter or milk or cream?? Or all 3?? As if such a thing exists!! But guess what: it totally does. We didn't add anything to our mashed potatoes, and they were so tasty - I'm just sad we didn't photograph them. If you need any more convincing, these spuds won some award:

Award winning potatoes? Need it, want it, love it.

My heart is won over by the Marabel potato. May she flourish in the fields of this great nation.

2 comments:

It's truly sad what we've come to know as "potatoes" in North America (save those handful of preservationists who have kept up with the heritage varieties). Apparently, when North America was first settled by Europeans, we had something over 300 varieties of spuds; look around a typical Canadian grocery store these days, and you find what... four? If you're lucky!

You'll need to bring/send some seed varieties home when you're all done there. Give up nursing all together and become a spud farmer, G!

About Me

Our family moved to Cambridge on January 13, 2011. The following week, Matthew started a 2 year Research Fellowship in the Department of Physics at Cambridge University. Our daughter, Elizabeth, is now 9 months old, and both of us celebrated our 29th birthdays the month we moved. Who knows what lies ahead for us here in England?